Articles | Volume 23, issue 16
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9071-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9071-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
19 Sep 2023
Research article |
| 19 Sep 2023
| 19 Sep 2023
Automated detection and monitoring of methane super-emitters using satellite data
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, the Netherlands
GHGSat Inc., Montreal, Canada
Joannes D. Maasakkers
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, the Netherlands
Pieter Bijl
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, the Netherlands
Gourav Mahapatra
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, the Netherlands
Anne-Wil van den Berg
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, the Netherlands
now at: Department of Meteorology and Air Quality, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands
Sudhanshu Pandey
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, the Netherlands
now at: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
Alba Lorente
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, the Netherlands
Tobias Borsdorff
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, the Netherlands
Sander Houweling
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, the Netherlands
Department of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Daniel J. Varon
GHGSat Inc., Montreal, Canada
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Jason McKeever
GHGSat Inc., Montreal, Canada
Dylan Jervis
GHGSat Inc., Montreal, Canada
Marianne Girard
GHGSat Inc., Montreal, Canada
Itziar Irakulis-Loitxate
Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA), Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Valencia, Spain
International Methane Emission Observatory, United Nations Environment Program, Paris, France
Javier Gorroño
Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA), Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Valencia, Spain
Luis Guanter
Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA), Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Valencia, Spain
Environmental Defense Fund, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Daniel H. Cusworth
Carbon Mapper, Inc., Pasadena, CA, USA
Arizona Institute for Resilience, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
Ilse Aben
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, the Netherlands
Department of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
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Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 2153–2177, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-2153-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-2153-2026, 2026
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Industrial facilities release carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. The TANGO mission, launching in 2028, will monitor both gases from ten thousand facilities per year using two satellites. We studied whether combining both improves carbon dioxide emission estimates and reveals plume chemistry. While this produces cleaner carbon dioxide images, precision does not improve as noise is redistributed not eliminated. Their ratio captures how nitrogen oxide converts to nitrogen dioxide within plumes.
Lucas A. Estrada, Daniel J. Jacob, Megan He, James D. East, Daniel J. Varon, Nicholas Balasus, Sarah E. Hancock, Melissa Sulprizio, Kevin W. Bowman, John R. Worden, Emily Reidy, and Benjamin R. K. Runkle
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Sarah E. Hancock, Daniel J. Jacob, Rodrigo Jimenez, Andrés Ardila, Luis Morales-Rincon, Néstor Rojas, Lucas A. Estrada, Nicholas Balasus, James D. East, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Xiaolin Wang, James L. France, Lauren Potyk, Elise Penn, Zichong Chen, Daniel J. Varon, Christian Frankenberg, Marci Baranski, Andreea Calcan, and Robert J. Parker
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Zhan Zhang, Maryann Sargent, Jack D. Warren, Apisada Chulakadabba, Marcus Russi, Sasha Ayvazov, Joshua Benmergui, Marvin Knapp, Ethan Kyzivat, Christopher C. Miller, Sébastien Roche, Bingkun Luo, David J. Miller, Maya Nasr, Kang Sun, James P. Williams, Katlyn MacKay, Mark Omara, Luis Guanter, Ritesh Gautam, Jonathan Franklin, Xiong Liu, and Steven C. Wofsy
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Katlyn MacKay, Joshua Benmergui, James P. Williams, Mark Omara, Anthony Himmelberger, Maryann Sargent, Jack D. Warren, Christopher C. Miller, Sébastien Roche, Zhan Zhang, Jonathan Franklin, Luis Guanter, Steven Wofsy, and Ritesh Gautam
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Reducing methane emissions from the oil/gas sector can mitigate near-term climate warming and the losses of a valuable energy resource. We analyze data collected using MethaneAIR to assess methane emissions in regions accounting for 70 % of United States onshore oil/gas production in 2023. We estimate total oil/gas methane emissions across all measured regions to be ~8 Tg/yr, equivalent to 1.6 % of produced gas, which is five times higher than reported by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Xin Zhang, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Tobias A. de Jong, Paul Tol, Frances Reuland, Adam R. Brandt, Eric A. Kort, Taylor J. Adams, and Ilse Aben
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6127, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6127, 2026
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Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide is essential for addressing climate change. We developed HyperGas, an open tool that uses hyperspectral satellite images to retrieve and detect greenhouse gas plumes. It helps scientists locate emission sources, estimate their strength, and examine uncertainties through an easy workflow and visual app. Our goal is to make tracking human-made emissions more accurate and accessible, supporting better climate monitoring.
Mari C. Martinez-Velarte, Jochen Landgraf, Ben Veihelmann, Bernd Sierk, and Tobias Borsdorff
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6328, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6328, 2026
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Launched in August 2025, Sentinel-5 provides daily CH4 and CO retrievals and is sensitive to CO2. Its SWIR MCT detectors exhibit persistence effects causing scene-dependent biases. This study quantifies these biases for CH4, CO, CO2, and the CH4/CO2 proxy using RemoTeC over regions with high radiance variability. Typical biases are small (<0.34 %), but outliers reach 1.59–4.01 %. Targeted post-filtering can reduce outliers and meet mission performance.
Eleftherios Ioannidis, Antoon Meesters, Michael Steiner, Dominik Brunner, Friedemann Reum, Isabelle Pison, Antoine Berchet, Rona Thompson, Espen Sollum, Frank-Thomas Koch, Christoph Gerbig, Fenjuan Wang, Shamil Maksyutov, Aki Tsuruta, Maria Tenkanen, Tuula Aalto, Guillaume Monteil, Hong Lin, Ge Ren, Marko Scholze, and Sander Houweling
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 167–198, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-167-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-167-2026, 2026
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This paper describes a detailed study on CH4 European emissions, using different methodologies (9 total inverse models). The study spans over 15 years and provides detailed information on European CH4 emission trends and seasonality, using in-situ data, including Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) network. Our results highlight the importance of improving details in the inversion setup, such as the treatment of lateral boundary conditions to narrow the uncertainty ranges further.
Tia R. Scarpelli, Elfie Roy, Daniel J. Jacob, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Ryan D. Tate, and Daniel H. Cusworth
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 7019–7033, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-7019-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-7019-2025, 2025
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We present an update of the Global Fuel Exploitation Inventory (GFEI), a global inventory of methane emissions from oil, gas, and coal exploitation. GFEI v3 uses emissions as reported by countries in national inventories for 2020, and new infrastructure information, including a new dataset on coal mine locations. The goal of updating GFEI is to provide a more accurate spatial representation of the country-reported national inventories, allowing comparison with methane monitoring data.
Bibhasvata Dasgupta, Sudhanshu Pandey, Sander Houweling, Malika Menoud, Carina van der Veen, John Miller, Ben Riddell-Young, Sylvia Englund Michel, Peter Sperlich, Shinji Morimoto, Ryo Fujita, Ingeborg Levin, Cordelia Veidt, Stephen Platt, Christine Groot Zwaaftink, Cathrine Lund Myhre, Ceres Woolley Maisch, Rebecca Fisher, Euan G. Nisbet, James France, Rowena Moss, Nicola Warwick, and Thomas Röckmann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5571, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5571, 2025
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Methane is a strong greenhouse gas, and its rise since the mid-2000s is debated in terms of sources and sinks. Using top-down and bottom-up data, along with inversion models and methane isotopes (δ13C-CH4 and δD-CH4), we find that wetlands are the primary driver of post-2006 increases, followed by agriculture and fossil fuels. Methane's lifetime has decreased by about 0.1 years. We also assess how isotope signatures and sink processes influence uncertainties.
Hannah Nesser, Kevin W. Bowman, Matthew D. Thill, Daniel J. Varon, Cynthia A. Randles, Ashutosh Tewari, Felipe J. Cardoso-Saldaña, Emily Reidy, Joannes D. Maasakkers, and Daniel J. Jacob
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 9279–9291, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-9279-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-9279-2025, 2025
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Regional analyses of atmospheric trace gases can improve knowledge of fluxes at high resolution but rely on specified boundary conditions (BCs) at the domain edges. Biases in the often-uncertain BCs propagate to the inferred fluxes. We develop a framework to explain how errors in the BCs influence the optimized fluxes, derive two metrics to estimate this influence, and compare two methods to correct for the biases. We demonstrate correcting BCs directly is more effective at reducing bias.
Riley Duren, Daniel Cusworth, Alana Ayasse, Katherine Howell, Alex Diamond, Tia Scarpelli, Jinsol Kim, Kelly O'neill, Judy Lai-Norling, Andrew Thorpe, Sander R. Zandbergen, Lucas Shaw, Mark Keremedjiev, Jeff Guido, Paul Giuliano, Malkam Goldstein, Ravi Nallapu, Geert Barentsen, David R. Thompson, Keely Roth, Daniel Jensen, Michael Eastwood, Frances Reuland, Taylor Adams, Adam Brandt, Eric A. Kort, James Mason, and Robert O. Green
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 6933–6958, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6933-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6933-2025, 2025
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We describe the Carbon Mapper emissions monitoring system including methane and carbon dioxide observations from the constellation of Tanager hyperspectral satellites, a global monitoring strategy optimized for enabling mitigation impact at the scale of individual facilities, and a data platform that delivers timely and transparent information for diverse stakeholders. We present early findings from Tanager-1 including the use of our data to locate and repair a leaking oil and gas pipeline.
Bibhasvata Dasgupta, Malika Menoud, Carina van der Veen, Ingeborg Levin, Cordelia Veidt, Heiko Moossen, Sylvia Englund Michel, Peter Sperlich, Shinji Morimoto, Ryo Fujita, Taku Umezawa, Stephen Platt, Christine Groot Zwaaftink, Cathrine Lund Myhre, Rebecca Fisher, David Lowry, Euan G. Nisbet, James France, Ceres Woolley Maisch, Gordon Brailsford, Rowena Moss, Daisuke Goto, Sudhanshu Pandey, Sander Houweling, Nicola Warwick, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 6591–6607, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6591-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6591-2025, 2025
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We combined long-term methane mole fraction and isotope measurements from eight laboratories that sample high-latitude stations to compare, offset correct and harmonise the datasets into a hemisphere merged timeseries. Because each laboratory uses slightly different methods, we adjusted the data to make it directly comparable. This allowed us to create a consistent record of atmospheric methane concentration and its isotopes from 1988 to 2023.
Jack H. Bruno, Daniel J. Jacob, Xiaolin Wang, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Lucas A. Estrada, Daniel J. Varon, Steven C. Wofsy, Mark Omara, and Ritesh Gautam
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4626, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4626, 2025
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We use data from both aircraft (MethaneAIR) and satellite (TROPOMI) based measurements of methane in the atmosphere to better understand methane emissions from fossil fuel extraction. Data from these instruments are combined with a computer model of the atmosphere to improve estimates of methane emissions. We find that combining data from multiple sources provides more information than either source on its own. The tools and data we use are freely available.
Andrew Gerald Barr, Jochen Landgraf, Mari Martinez-Velarte, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Ralf Sussmann, Isamu Morino, Kimberly Strong, Minqiang Zhou, Voltaire A. Velazco, Hirofumi Ohyama, Thorsten Warneke, Frank Hase, and Tobias Borsdorff
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 6093–6123, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6093-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6093-2025, 2025
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The Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite-2 (GOSAT-2) is a satellite dedicated to measuring concentrations of greenhouse gases from space. Since its launch, the increase of CH4 and CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere is clear. The datasets obtained from GOSAT-2 are used in the Copernicus atmospheric services to monitor the climate, in light of the Paris Agreement. Here we present robust datasets of these gases from GOSAT-2, including a novel machine learning approach to data quality filtering.
Drew C. Pendergrass, Daniel J. Jacob, Nicholas Balasus, Lucas Estrada, Daniel J. Varon, James D. East, Megan He, Todd A. Mooring, Elise Penn, Hannah Nesser, and John R. Worden
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 14353–14369, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-14353-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-14353-2025, 2025
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We use satellite observations of atmospheric methane, a greenhouse gas, to calculate emissions from both human and natural sources. We find that methane emissions surged in 2020–2021 before declining in 2022–2023. We attribute the surge in large part to emissions from eastern Africa, which experienced large methane-generating floods. Wetland models underestimate emissions in that region, which has led some previous work to incorrectly attribute the African surge in methane emissions to livestock.
Javier Roger, Luis Guanter, and Javier Gorroño
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 5545–5567, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-5545-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-5545-2025, 2025
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Detection of methane point source emissions with satellite-based imaging spectrometers is assessed in offshore areas. After integrating simulations into data from 2 different satellite missions, we extract the probability of detection. We compare our results with real plumes, which shows the consistency of the models. Detection and monitoring efforts can be optimized by filtering data based on these results, reducing unnecessary searches and increasing the action taken on these emissions.
Jack D. Warren, Maryann Sargent, James P. Williams, Mark Omara, Christopher C. Miller, Sebastien Roche, Katlyn MacKay, Ethan Manninen, Apisada Chulakadabba, Anthony Himmelberger, Joshua Benmergui, Zhan Zhang, Luis Guanter, Steve Wofsy, and Ritesh Gautam
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 10661–10675, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-10661-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-10661-2025, 2025
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Mitigating anthropogenic methane emissions requires a detailed understanding of emitting facilities. We use observations of methane point sources from the MethaneAIR instrument from 2021–2023 that covered ~80 % of US onshore oil and gas production regions. We attribute these observations to facility types to explore how emissions vary by industrial sectors. Oil and gas facilities make up most point source emissions nationally, but in certain basins other sectors can make up the majority.
Luis Guanter, Jack Warren, Mark Omara, Apisada Chulakadabba, Javier Roger, Maryann Sargent, Jonathan E. Franklin, Steven C. Wofsy, and Ritesh Gautam
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 3857–3872, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3857-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3857-2025, 2025
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This study presents a data processing scheme for the detection and quantification of methane emissions using the MethaneAIR airborne spectrometer. We show that the proposed methods enable the detection of smaller plumes (compared with those detectable using other existing methods) and improve the potential of MethaneAIR to survey methane point sources across large regions.
Arseniy Karagodin-Doyennel, Fredrik Jansson, Bart J. H. van Stratum, Hugo Denier van der Gon, Jordi Vilà-Guerau de Arellano, and Sander Houweling
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 4571–4599, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-4571-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-4571-2025, 2025
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We introduce a new simulation platform based on the Dutch Atmospheric Large-Eddy Simulation (DALES) to simulate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and their dispersion in turbulent environments at a hectometer resolution. This model incorporates both anthropogenic emission inventories and online ecosystem fluxes. Simulation results for the main urban area in the Netherlands demonstrate the strong potential of DALES to improve CO2 emission modeling and to support mitigation strategies.
Aurélien Sicsik-Paré, Audrey Fortems-Cheiney, Isabelle Pison, Grégoire Broquet, Alvin Opler, Elise Potier, Adrien Martinez, Oliver Schneising, Michael Buchwitz, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Tobias Borsdorff, and Antoine Berchet
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2622, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2622, 2025
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Assimilating satellite observations from TROPOMI provides top-down quantification of regional methane emissions. This study compares European emissions in 2019 estimated from the inversion of three TROPOMI datasets. We find inconsistencies in national budgets and spatial patterns, with no product clearly superior. We disentangle drivers of the differences, highlighting the impact of differences in coverage, observations and associated errors on the consistency of methane emission estimates.
Lucas A. Estrada, Daniel J. Varon, Melissa Sulprizio, Hannah Nesser, Zichong Chen, Nicholas Balasus, Sarah E. Hancock, Megan He, James D. East, Todd A. Mooring, Alexander Oort Alonso, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Ilse Aben, Sabour Baray, Kevin W. Bowman, John R. Worden, Felipe J. Cardoso-Saldaña, Emily Reidy, and Daniel J. Jacob
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 3311–3330, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-3311-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-3311-2025, 2025
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Reducing emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, is a top policy concern for mitigating anthropogenic climate change. The Integrated Methane Inversion (IMI) is an advanced, cloud-based software that translates satellite observations into actionable emissions data. Here we present IMI version 2.0 with vastly expanded capabilities. These updates enable a wider range of scientific and stakeholder applications from individual basin to global scales with continuous emissions monitoring.
Shutao Zhao, Yuzhong Zhang, Shuang Zhao, Xinlu Wang, and Daniel J. Varon
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4035–4052, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4035-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4035-2025, 2025
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We target the challenge of detecting methane super-emitters in oil and gas fields, which is critical for mitigating climate change. Traditional satellite-based detectors struggle due to interference from complex surfaces. We developed a novel method using deep transfer learning that improves detection efficiency and accuracy by reducing artifacts and adapting methane knowledge to different regions. Application revealed significant methane emissions, demonstrating the potential of our method.
Elise Penn, Daniel J. Jacob, Zichong Chen, James D. East, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Lori Bruhwiler, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Hannah Nesser, Zhen Qu, Yuzhong Zhang, and John Worden
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2947–2965, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2947-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2947-2025, 2025
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The hydroxyl radical (OH) destroys many air pollutants, including methane. Global-mean OH cannot be directly measured, and thus it is inferred with the methyl chloroform (MCF) proxy. MCF is decreasing, and a replacement is needed. We use satellite observations of methane in two spectral ranges as a proxy for OH. We find shortwave infrared observations can characterize yearly OH and its seasonality but not the latitudinal distribution. Thermal infrared observations add little information.
Pieter Rijsdijk, Henk Eskes, Arlene Dingemans, K. Folkert Boersma, Takashi Sekiya, Kazuyuki Miyazaki, and Sander Houweling
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 483–509, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-483-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-483-2025, 2025
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Clustering high-resolution satellite observations into superobservations improves model validation and data assimilation applications. In our paper, we derive quantitative uncertainties for satellite NO2 column observations based on knowledge of the retrievals, including a detailed analysis of spatial error correlations and representativity errors. The superobservations and uncertainty estimates are tested in a global chemical data assimilation system and are found to improve the forecasts.
Sarah E. Hancock, Daniel J. Jacob, Zichong Chen, Hannah Nesser, Aaron Davitt, Daniel J. Varon, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Nicholas Balasus, Lucas A. Estrada, María Cazorla, Laura Dawidowski, Sebastián Diez, James D. East, Elise Penn, Cynthia A. Randles, John Worden, Ilse Aben, Robert J. Parker, and Joannes D. Maasakkers
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 797–817, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-797-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-797-2025, 2025
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We quantify 2021 methane emissions in South America at up to 25 km × 25 km resolution using satellite methane observations. We find a 55 % upward adjustment to anthropogenic emission inventories, including those reported to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change under the Paris Agreement. Our estimates match inventories for Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay but are much higher for other countries. Livestock emissions (65 % of anthropogenic emissions) show the largest discrepancies.
Gijs Leguijt, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Hugo A. C. Denier van der Gon, Arjo J. Segers, Tobias Borsdorff, Ivar R. van der Velde, and Ilse Aben
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 555–574, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-555-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-555-2025, 2025
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The production of steel coincides with large emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants including carbon monoxide. European facilities are required to report their emissions, which are estimated using a variety of methods. We evaluate these estimates using carbon monoxide concentrations measured via satellite. We find generally good agreement between our values and those reported but also identify some uncertainties, showing that satellites can provide insights into these emissions.
Ana Maria Roxana Petrescu, Glen P. Peters, Richard Engelen, Sander Houweling, Dominik Brunner, Aki Tsuruta, Bradley Matthews, Prabir K. Patra, Dmitry Belikov, Rona L. Thompson, Lena Höglund-Isaksson, Wenxin Zhang, Arjo J. Segers, Giuseppe Etiope, Giancarlo Ciotoli, Philippe Peylin, Frédéric Chevallier, Tuula Aalto, Robbie M. Andrew, David Bastviken, Antoine Berchet, Grégoire Broquet, Giulia Conchedda, Stijn N. C. Dellaert, Hugo Denier van der Gon, Johannes Gütschow, Jean-Matthieu Haussaire, Ronny Lauerwald, Tiina Markkanen, Jacob C. A. van Peet, Isabelle Pison, Pierre Regnier, Espen Solum, Marko Scholze, Maria Tenkanen, Francesco N. Tubiello, Guido R. van der Werf, and John R. Worden
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 4325–4350, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4325-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4325-2024, 2024
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This study provides an overview of data availability from observation- and inventory-based CH4 emission estimates. It systematically compares them and provides recommendations for robust comparisons, aiming to steadily engage more parties in using observational methods to complement their UNFCCC submissions. Anticipating improvements in atmospheric modelling and observations, future developments need to resolve knowledge gaps in both approaches and to better quantify remaining uncertainty.
Brian Nathan, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Stijn Naus, Ritesh Gautam, Mark Omara, Daniel J. Varon, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Lucas A. Estrada, Alba Lorente, Tobias Borsdorff, Robert J. Parker, and Ilse Aben
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6845–6863, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6845-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6845-2024, 2024
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Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo region is notoriously hard to observe from space and features intensive oil exploitation, although production has strongly decreased in recent years. We estimate methane emissions using 2018–2020 TROPOMI satellite observations with national and regional transport models. Despite the production decrease, we find relatively constant emissions from Lake Maracaibo between 2018 and 2020, indicating that there could be large emissions from abandoned infrastructure.
Qiurun Yu, Dylan Jervis, and Yi Huang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3347–3366, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3347-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3347-2024, 2024
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This study estimated the effects of aerosols on GHGSat satellite methane retrieval and investigated the performance of simultaneously retrieving aerosol and methane information using a multi-angle viewing method. Results suggested that the performance of GHGSat methane retrieval improved when aerosols were considered, and the multi-angle viewing method is insensitive to the satellite angle setting. This performance assessment is useful for improving future GHGSat-like instruments.
Matthieu Dogniaux, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Daniel J. Varon, and Ilse Aben
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2777–2787, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2777-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2777-2024, 2024
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We analyze Landsat 8 (L8) and Sentinel-2B (S-2B) observations of the 2022 Nord Stream 2 methane leak and show how challenging this case is for usual data analysis methods. We provide customized calibrations for this Nord Stream 2 case and assess that no firm conclusion can be drawn from L8 or S-2B single overpasses. However, if we opportunistically assume that L8 and S-2B results are independent, we find an averaged L8 and S-2B combined methane leak rate of 502 ± 464 t h−1.
Jack H. Bruno, Dylan Jervis, Daniel J. Varon, and Daniel J. Jacob
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2625–2636, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2625-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2625-2024, 2024
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Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and a current high-priority target for short- to mid-term climate change mitigation. Detection of individual methane emitters from space has become possible in recent years, and the volume of data for this task has been rapidly growing, outpacing processing capabilities. We introduce an automated approach, U-Plume, which can detect and quantify emissions from individual methane sources in high-spatial-resolution satellite data.
Anna Vaughan, Gonzalo Mateo-García, Luis Gómez-Chova, Vít Růžička, Luis Guanter, and Itziar Irakulis-Loitxate
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2583–2593, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2583-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2583-2024, 2024
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Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that has been responsible for around 25 % of global warming since the industrial revolution. Consequently identifying and mitigating methane emissions comprise an important step in combating the climate crisis. We develop a new deep learning model to automatically detect methane plumes from satellite images and demonstrate that this can be applied to monitor large methane emissions resulting from the oil and gas industry.
Hannah Nesser, Daniel J. Jacob, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Alba Lorente, Zichong Chen, Xiao Lu, Lu Shen, Zhen Qu, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Margaux Winter, Shuang Ma, A. Anthony Bloom, John R. Worden, Robert N. Stavins, and Cynthia A. Randles
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5069–5091, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5069-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5069-2024, 2024
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We quantify 2019 methane emissions in the contiguous US (CONUS) at a ≈ 25 km × 25 km resolution using satellite methane observations. We find a 13 % upward correction to the 2023 US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory (GHGI) for 2019, with large corrections to individual states, urban areas, and landfills. This may present a challenge for US climate policies and goals, many of which target significant reductions in methane emissions.
Emily Dowd, Alistair J. Manning, Bryn Orth-Lashley, Marianne Girard, James France, Rebecca E. Fisher, Dave Lowry, Mathias Lanoisellé, Joseph R. Pitt, Kieran M. Stanley, Simon O'Doherty, Dickon Young, Glen Thistlethwaite, Martyn P. Chipperfield, Emanuel Gloor, and Chris Wilson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1599–1615, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1599-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1599-2024, 2024
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We provide the first validation of the satellite-derived emission estimates using surface-based mobile greenhouse gas surveys of an active gas leak detected near Cheltenham, UK. GHGSat’s emission estimates broadly agree with the surface-based mobile survey and steps were taken to fix the leak, highlighting the importance of satellite data in identifying emissions and helping to reduce our human impact on climate change.
Javier Roger, Luis Guanter, Javier Gorroño, and Itziar Irakulis-Loitxate
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1333–1346, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1333-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1333-2024, 2024
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Methane emissions can be identified using remote sensing, but surface-related structures disturb detection. In this work, a variation of the matched filter method that exploits a large fraction of the near-infrared range (1000–2500 nm) is applied. In comparison to the raw matched filter, it reduces background noise and strongly attenuates the surface-related artifacts, which leads to a greater detection capability. We propose this variation as a standard methodology for methane detection.
Jean-Philippe W. MacLean, Marianne Girard, Dylan Jervis, David Marshall, Jason McKeever, Antoine Ramier, Mathias Strupler, Ewan Tarrant, and David Young
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 863–874, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-863-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-863-2024, 2024
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We demonstrate the capabilities of the GHGSat satellite constellation to detect and quantify offshore methane emissions using a sun glint observation mode. Using this technique, we observe offshore methane emissions from space ranging from 180 kg h−1 to 84 000 kg h−1. We further assess the instrument performance in offshore environments, both empirically and using analytical modelling, and find that the detection limit varies with latitude and season.
Alana K. Ayasse, Daniel Cusworth, Kelly O'Neill, Justin Fisk, Andrew K. Thorpe, and Riley Duren
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 6065–6074, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6065-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6065-2023, 2023
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Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, and a significant portion of methane comes from large individual plumes. Recently, airplane-mounted infrared technologies have proven very good at detecting and quantifying these plumes. In order to extract the methane signal from the infrared image, there are two widely used approaches. In this study, we assess the performance of both approaches using controlled-release experiments. We also examine the minimum detection limit of the infrared technology.
Daniel H. Cusworth, Andrew K. Thorpe, Charles E. Miller, Alana K. Ayasse, Ralph Jiorle, Riley M. Duren, Ray Nassar, Jon-Paul Mastrogiacomo, and Robert R. Nelson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14577–14591, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14577-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14577-2023, 2023
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Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from combustion sources are uncertain in many places across the globe. Satellites have the ability to detect and quantify emissions from large CO2 point sources, including coal-fired power plants. In this study, we tasked two satellites to routinely observe CO2 emissions at 30 coal-fired power plants between 2021 and 2022. These results present the largest dataset of space-based CO2 emission estimates to date.
Tim A. van Kempen, Tim J. Rotmans, Richard M. van Hees, Carol Bruegge, Dejian Fu, Ruud Hoogeveen, Thomas J. Pongetti, Robert Rosenberg, and Ilse Aben
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4507–4527, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4507-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4507-2023, 2023
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Validation of satellite measurements is essential for providing reliable and consistent products. In this paper, a validation method for TROPOMI-SWIR (Tropospheric Measurement Instrument in the short-wavelength infrared) is explored. TROPOMI-SWIR has been shown to be exceptionally stable, a necessity to explore the methodology. Railroad Valley, Nevada, is a prime location to perform the necessary measurements to validate the satellite measurements of TROPOMI-SWIR.
Manu Goudar, Juliëtte C. S. Anema, Rajesh Kumar, Tobias Borsdorff, and Jochen Landgraf
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 4835–4852, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4835-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4835-2023, 2023
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A framework was developed to automatically detect plumes and compute emission estimates with cross-sectional flux method (CFM) for biomass burning events in TROPOMI CO datasets using Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite active fire data. The emissions were more reliable when changing plume height in downwind direction was used instead of constant injection height. The CFM had uncertainty even when the meteorological conditions were accurate; thus there is a need for better inversion models.
Drew C. Pendergrass, Daniel J. Jacob, Hannah Nesser, Daniel J. Varon, Melissa Sulprizio, Kazuyuki Miyazaki, and Kevin W. Bowman
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 4793–4810, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4793-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4793-2023, 2023
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We have built a tool called CHEEREIO that allows scientists to use observations of pollutants or gases in the atmosphere, such as from satellites or surface stations, to update supercomputer models that simulate the Earth. CHEEREIO uses the difference between the model simulations of the atmosphere and real-world observations to come up with a good guess for the actual composition of our atmosphere, the true emissions of various pollutants, and whatever else they may want to study.
Nicholas Balasus, Daniel J. Jacob, Alba Lorente, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Robert J. Parker, Hartmut Boesch, Zichong Chen, Makoto M. Kelp, Hannah Nesser, and Daniel J. Varon
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3787–3807, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3787-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3787-2023, 2023
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We use machine learning to remove biases in TROPOMI satellite observations of atmospheric methane, with GOSAT observations serving as a reference. We find that the TROPOMI biases relative to GOSAT are related to the presence of aerosols and clouds, the surface brightness, and the specific detector that makes the observation aboard TROPOMI. The resulting blended TROPOMI+GOSAT product is more reliable for quantifying methane emissions.
Gijs Leguijt, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Hugo A. C. Denier van der Gon, Arjo J. Segers, Tobias Borsdorff, and Ilse Aben
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8899–8919, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8899-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8899-2023, 2023
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We present a fast method to evaluate carbon monoxide emissions from cities in Africa. Carbon monoxide is important for climate change in an indirect way, as it is linked to ozone, methane, and carbon dioxide. Our measurements are made with a satellite that sees the entire globe every single day. This means that we can check from space whether the current knowledge of emission rates is up to date. We make the comparison and show that the emission rates in northern Africa are underestimated.
Ruosi Liang, Yuzhong Zhang, Wei Chen, Peixuan Zhang, Jingran Liu, Cuihong Chen, Huiqin Mao, Guofeng Shen, Zhen Qu, Zichong Chen, Minqiang Zhou, Pucai Wang, Robert J. Parker, Hartmut Boesch, Alba Lorente, Joannes D. Maasakkers, and Ilse Aben
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8039–8057, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8039-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8039-2023, 2023
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We compare and evaluate East Asian methane emissions inferred from different satellite observations (GOSAT and TROPOMI). The results show discrepancies over northern India and eastern China. Independent ground-based observations are more consistent with TROPOMI-derived emissions in northern India and GOSAT-derived emissions in eastern China.
Daniel J. Varon, Daniel J. Jacob, Benjamin Hmiel, Ritesh Gautam, David R. Lyon, Mark Omara, Melissa Sulprizio, Lu Shen, Drew Pendergrass, Hannah Nesser, Zhen Qu, Zachary R. Barkley, Natasha L. Miles, Scott J. Richardson, Kenneth J. Davis, Sudhanshu Pandey, Xiao Lu, Alba Lorente, Tobias Borsdorff, Joannes D. Maasakkers, and Ilse Aben
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7503–7520, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7503-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7503-2023, 2023
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We use TROPOMI satellite observations to quantify weekly methane emissions from the US Permian oil and gas basin from May 2018 to October 2020. We find that Permian emissions are highly variable, with diverse economic and activity drivers. The most important drivers during our study period were new well development and natural gas price. Permian methane intensity averaged 4.6 % and decreased by 1 % per year.
Tobias Borsdorff, Teresa Campos, Natalie Kille, Kyle J. Zarzana, Rainer Volkamer, and Jochen Landgraf
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3027–3038, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3027-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3027-2023, 2023
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ECMWF plans to assimilate TROPOMI CO with their CAMS-IFS model. This will constrain the total column and the vertical CO distribution of the model. To show this, we combine individual TROPOMI CO column retrievals with different vertical sensitivities and obtain a vertical CO concentration profile. We test the approach on three CO pollution events in comparison with CAMS-IFS simulations that do not assimilate TROPOMI CO data and in situ airborne measurements of the BB-FLUX campaign.
Zichong Chen, Daniel J. Jacob, Ritesh Gautam, Mark Omara, Robert N. Stavins, Robert C. Stowe, Hannah Nesser, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Alba Lorente, Daniel J. Varon, Xiao Lu, Lu Shen, Zhen Qu, Drew C. Pendergrass, and Sarah Hancock
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5945–5967, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5945-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5945-2023, 2023
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We quantify methane emissions from individual countries in the Middle East and North Africa by inverse analysis of 2019 TROPOMI satellite observations of atmospheric methane. We show that the ability to simply relate oil/gas emissions to activity metrics is compromised by stochastic nature of local infrastructure and management practices. We find that the industry target for oil/gas methane intensity is achievable through associated gas capture, modern infrastructure, and centralized operations.
Anna Agustí-Panareda, Jérôme Barré, Sébastien Massart, Antje Inness, Ilse Aben, Melanie Ades, Bianca C. Baier, Gianpaolo Balsamo, Tobias Borsdorff, Nicolas Bousserez, Souhail Boussetta, Michael Buchwitz, Luca Cantarello, Cyril Crevoisier, Richard Engelen, Henk Eskes, Johannes Flemming, Sébastien Garrigues, Otto Hasekamp, Vincent Huijnen, Luke Jones, Zak Kipling, Bavo Langerock, Joe McNorton, Nicolas Meilhac, Stefan Noël, Mark Parrington, Vincent-Henri Peuch, Michel Ramonet, Miha Razinger, Maximilian Reuter, Roberto Ribas, Martin Suttie, Colm Sweeney, Jérôme Tarniewicz, and Lianghai Wu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 3829–3859, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3829-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3829-2023, 2023
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We present a global dataset of atmospheric CO2 and CH4, the two most important human-made greenhouse gases, which covers almost 2 decades (2003–2020). It is produced by combining satellite data of CO2 and CH4 with a weather and air composition prediction model, and it has been carefully evaluated against independent observations to ensure validity and point out deficiencies to the user. This dataset can be used for scientific studies in the field of climate change and the global carbon cycle.
Alba Lorente, Tobias Borsdorff, Mari C. Martinez-Velarte, and Jochen Landgraf
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1597–1608, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1597-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1597-2023, 2023
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In the TROPOMI methane data, there are few false methane anomalies that can be misinterpreted as enhancements caused by strong emission sources. These artefacts are caused by features of the underlying surfaces that are not well characterized in the retrieval algorithm. Here we improve the representation of the surface reflectance dependency with wavelength in the forward model, removing the artificial localized CH4 enhancements found in several locations like Siberia, Australia and Algeria.
Ana Maria Roxana Petrescu, Chunjing Qiu, Matthew J. McGrath, Philippe Peylin, Glen P. Peters, Philippe Ciais, Rona L. Thompson, Aki Tsuruta, Dominik Brunner, Matthias Kuhnert, Bradley Matthews, Paul I. Palmer, Oksana Tarasova, Pierre Regnier, Ronny Lauerwald, David Bastviken, Lena Höglund-Isaksson, Wilfried Winiwarter, Giuseppe Etiope, Tuula Aalto, Gianpaolo Balsamo, Vladislav Bastrikov, Antoine Berchet, Patrick Brockmann, Giancarlo Ciotoli, Giulia Conchedda, Monica Crippa, Frank Dentener, Christine D. Groot Zwaaftink, Diego Guizzardi, Dirk Günther, Jean-Matthieu Haussaire, Sander Houweling, Greet Janssens-Maenhout, Massaer Kouyate, Adrian Leip, Antti Leppänen, Emanuele Lugato, Manon Maisonnier, Alistair J. Manning, Tiina Markkanen, Joe McNorton, Marilena Muntean, Gabriel D. Oreggioni, Prabir K. Patra, Lucia Perugini, Isabelle Pison, Maarit T. Raivonen, Marielle Saunois, Arjo J. Segers, Pete Smith, Efisio Solazzo, Hanqin Tian, Francesco N. Tubiello, Timo Vesala, Guido R. van der Werf, Chris Wilson, and Sönke Zaehle
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1197–1268, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1197-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1197-2023, 2023
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This study updates the state-of-the-art scientific overview of CH4 and N2O emissions in the EU27 and UK in Petrescu et al. (2021a). Yearly updates are needed to improve the different respective approaches and to inform on the development of formal verification systems. It integrates the most recent emission inventories, process-based model and regional/global inversions, comparing them with UNFCCC national GHG inventories, in support to policy to facilitate real-time verification procedures.
Xueying Yu, Dylan B. Millet, Daven K. Henze, Alexander J. Turner, Alba Lorente Delgado, A. Anthony Bloom, and Jianxiong Sheng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 3325–3346, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3325-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3325-2023, 2023
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We combine satellite measurements with a novel downscaling method to map global methane emissions at 0.1°×0.1° resolution. These fine-scale emission estimates reveal unreported emission hotspots and shed light on the roles of agriculture, wetlands, and fossil fuels for regional methane budgets. The satellite-derived emissions point in particular to missing fossil fuel emissions in the Middle East and to a large emission underestimate in South Asia that appears to be tied to monsoon rainfall.
Adriana Bailey, Franziska Aemisegger, Leonie Villiger, Sebastian A. Los, Gilles Reverdin, Estefanía Quiñones Meléndez, Claudia Acquistapace, Dariusz B. Baranowski, Tobias Böck, Sandrine Bony, Tobias Bordsdorff, Derek Coffman, Simon P. de Szoeke, Christopher J. Diekmann, Marina Dütsch, Benjamin Ertl, Joseph Galewsky, Dean Henze, Przemyslaw Makuch, David Noone, Patricia K. Quinn, Michael Rösch, Andreas Schneider, Matthias Schneider, Sabrina Speich, Bjorn Stevens, and Elizabeth J. Thompson
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 465–495, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-465-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-465-2023, 2023
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One of the novel ways EUREC4A set out to investigate trade wind clouds and their coupling to the large-scale circulation was through an extensive network of isotopic measurements in water vapor, precipitation, and seawater. Samples were taken from the island of Barbados, from aboard two aircraft, and from aboard four ships. This paper describes the full collection of EUREC4A isotopic in situ data and guides readers to complementary remotely sensed water vapor isotope ratios.
Javier Gorroño, Daniel J. Varon, Itziar Irakulis-Loitxate, and Luis Guanter
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 89–107, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-89-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-89-2023, 2023
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We present a methane flux rate retrieval methodology using the Sentinel-2 mission, validating the algorithm for different scenes and plumes. The detection limit is 1000–2000 kg h−1 for homogeneous scenes and temporally invariant surfaces and above 5000 kg h−1 for heterogeneous ones. Dominant quantification errors are wind-related or plume mask-related. For heterogeneous scenes, the surface structure underlying the methane plume can become a dominant source of uncertainty.
Srijana Lama, Sander Houweling, K. Folkert Boersma, Ilse Aben, Hugo A. C. Denier van der Gon, and Maarten C. Krol
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 16053–16071, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-16053-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-16053-2022, 2022
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Hydroxyl radical (OH) is the important chemical species that determines the lifetime of some greenhouse gases and trace gases. OH plays a vital role in air pollution chemistry. OH has a short lifetime and is extremely difficult to measure directly. OH concentrations derived from the chemistry transport model (CTM) have uncertainties of >50 %. Therefore, in this study, OH is derived indirectly using satellite date in urban plumes.
Zhan Zhang, Evan D. Sherwin, Daniel J. Varon, and Adam R. Brandt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 7155–7169, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7155-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7155-2022, 2022
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This work developed a multi-band–multi-pass–multi-comparison-date Sentinel-2 methane retrieval algorithm, and the method was calibrated by data from a controlled release test. To our knowledge, this is the first study that validates the performance of a Sentinel-2 methane detection algorithm by calibration with a ground-truth testing. It illustrates the potential for additional validation with systematic future experiments wherein algorithms can be tuned to meet different detection expectations.
Alba Lorente, Tobias Borsdorff, Mari C. Martinez-Velarte, Andre Butz, Otto P. Hasekamp, Lianghai Wu, and Jochen Landgraf
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6585–6603, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6585-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6585-2022, 2022
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The TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) performs observations over ocean in every orbit, enhancing the monitoring capabilities of methane from space. In the sun glint geometry the mirror-like reflection at the water surface provides a signal that is high enough to retrieve methane with high accuracy and precision. We present 4 years of methane concentrations over the ocean, and we assess its quality. We also show the importance of ocean observations to quantify total CH4 emissions.
Antje Inness, Ilse Aben, Melanie Ades, Tobias Borsdorff, Johannes Flemming, Luke Jones, Jochen Landgraf, Bavo Langerock, Philippe Nedelec, Mark Parrington, and Roberto Ribas
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 14355–14376, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14355-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14355-2022, 2022
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The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) provides daily global air quality forecasts to users worldwide. One of the species of interest is carbon monoxide (CO), an important trace gas in the atmosphere with anthropogenic and natural sources, produced by incomplete combustion, for example, by wildfires. This paper looks at how well CAMS can model CO in the atmosphere and shows that the fields can be improved when blending CO data from the TROPOMI instrument with the CAMS model.
Lu Shen, Ritesh Gautam, Mark Omara, Daniel Zavala-Araiza, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Tia R. Scarpelli, Alba Lorente, David Lyon, Jianxiong Sheng, Daniel J. Varon, Hannah Nesser, Zhen Qu, Xiao Lu, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Steven P. Hamburg, and Daniel J. Jacob
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11203–11215, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11203-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11203-2022, 2022
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We use 22 months of TROPOMI satellite observations to quantity methane emissions from the oil (O) and natural gas (G) sector in the US and Canada at the scale of both individual basins as well as country-wide aggregates. We find that O/G-related methane emissions are underestimated in these inventories by 80 % for the US and 40 % for Canada, and 70 % of the underestimate in the US is from five O/G basins, including Permian, Haynesville, Anadarko, Eagle Ford, and Barnett.
Zichong Chen, Daniel J. Jacob, Hannah Nesser, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Alba Lorente, Daniel J. Varon, Xiao Lu, Lu Shen, Zhen Qu, Elise Penn, and Xueying Yu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10809–10826, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10809-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10809-2022, 2022
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We quantify methane emissions in China and contributions from different sectors by inverse analysis of 2019 TROPOMI satellite observations of atmospheric methane. We find that anthropogenic methane emissions for China are underestimated in the national inventory. Our estimate of emissions indicates a small life-cycle loss rate, implying net climate benefits from the current
coal-to-gasenergy transition in China. However, this small loss rate can be misleading given China's high gas imports.
Sara Martínez-Alonso, Merritt N. Deeter, Bianca C. Baier, Kathryn McKain, Helen Worden, Tobias Borsdorff, Colm Sweeney, and Ilse Aben
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4751–4765, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4751-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4751-2022, 2022
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AirCore is a novel balloon sampling system that can measure, among others, vertical profiles of carbon monoxide (CO) from 25–30 km of altitude to near the surface. Our analyses of AirCore and satellite CO data show that AirCore profiles are suited for satellite data validation, the use of shorter aircraft vertical profiles in satellite validation results in small errors (1–3 percent points) mostly at 300 hPa and above, and the error introduced by clouds in TROPOMI land data is small (1–2 %).
Pieternel F. Levelt, Deborah C. Stein Zweers, Ilse Aben, Maite Bauwens, Tobias Borsdorff, Isabelle De Smedt, Henk J. Eskes, Christophe Lerot, Diego G. Loyola, Fabian Romahn, Trissevgeni Stavrakou, Nicolas Theys, Michel Van Roozendael, J. Pepijn Veefkind, and Tijl Verhoelst
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10319–10351, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10319-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10319-2022, 2022
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Using the COVID-19 lockdown periods as an example, we show how Sentinel-5P/TROPOMI trace gas data (NO2, SO2, CO, HCHO and CHOCHO) can be used to understand impacts on air quality for regions and cities around the globe. We also provide information for both experienced and inexperienced users about how we created the data using state-of-the-art algorithms, where to get the data, methods taking meteorological and seasonal variability into consideration, and insights for future studies.
Daniel J. Jacob, Daniel J. Varon, Daniel H. Cusworth, Philip E. Dennison, Christian Frankenberg, Ritesh Gautam, Luis Guanter, John Kelley, Jason McKeever, Lesley E. Ott, Benjamin Poulter, Zhen Qu, Andrew K. Thorpe, John R. Worden, and Riley M. Duren
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9617–9646, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9617-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9617-2022, 2022
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We review the capability of satellite observations of atmospheric methane to quantify methane emissions on all scales. We cover retrieval methods, precision requirements, inverse methods for inferring emissions, source detection thresholds, and observations of system completeness. We show that current instruments already enable quantification of regional and national emissions including contributions from large point sources. Coverage and resolution will increase significantly in coming years.
Matthias Schneider, Benjamin Ertl, Qiansi Tu, Christopher J. Diekmann, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Amelie N. Röhling, Frank Hase, Darko Dubravica, Omaira E. García, Eliezer Sepúlveda, Tobias Borsdorff, Jochen Landgraf, Alba Lorente, André Butz, Huilin Chen, Rigel Kivi, Thomas Laemmel, Michel Ramonet, Cyril Crevoisier, Jérome Pernin, Martin Steinbacher, Frank Meinhardt, Kimberly Strong, Debra Wunch, Thorsten Warneke, Coleen Roehl, Paul O. Wennberg, Isamu Morino, Laura T. Iraci, Kei Shiomi, Nicholas M. Deutscher, David W. T. Griffith, Voltaire A. Velazco, and David F. Pollard
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4339–4371, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4339-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4339-2022, 2022
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We present a computationally very efficient method for the synergetic use of level 2 remote-sensing data products. We apply the method to IASI vertical profile and TROPOMI total column space-borne methane observations and thus gain sensitivity for the tropospheric methane partial columns, which is not achievable by the individual use of TROPOMI and IASI. These synergetic effects are evaluated theoretically and empirically by inter-comparisons to independent references of TCCON, AirCore, and GAW.
Daniel J. Varon, Daniel J. Jacob, Melissa Sulprizio, Lucas A. Estrada, William B. Downs, Lu Shen, Sarah E. Hancock, Hannah Nesser, Zhen Qu, Elise Penn, Zichong Chen, Xiao Lu, Alba Lorente, Ashutosh Tewari, and Cynthia A. Randles
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 5787–5805, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-5787-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-5787-2022, 2022
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Reducing atmospheric methane emissions is critical to slow near-term climate change. Globally surveying satellite instruments like the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) have unique capabilities for monitoring atmospheric methane around the world. Here we present a user-friendly cloud-computing tool that enables researchers and stakeholders to quantify methane emissions across user-selected regions of interest using TROPOMI satellite observations.
Jonas Hachmeister, Oliver Schneising, Michael Buchwitz, Alba Lorente, Tobias Borsdorff, John P. Burrows, Justus Notholt, and Matthias Buschmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4063–4074, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4063-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4063-2022, 2022
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Sentinel-5P trace gas retrievals rely on elevation data in their calculations. Outdated or inaccurate data can lead to significant errors in e.g. dry-air mole fractions of methane (XCH4). We show that the use of inadequate elevation data leads to strong XCH4 anomalies in Greenland. Similar problems can be expected for other regions with inaccurate elevation data. However, we expect these to be more localized. We show that updating elevation data used in the retrieval solves this issue.
Sudhanshu Pandey, Sander Houweling, and Arjo Segers
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 4555–4567, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-4555-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-4555-2022, 2022
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Inversions are used to calculate methane emissions using atmospheric mole-fraction measurements. Multidecadal inversions are needed to extract information from the long measurement records of methane. However, multidecadal inversion computations can take months to finish. Here, we demonstrate an order of magnitude improvement in wall clock time for an iterative multidecadal inversion by physical parallelization of chemical transport model.
John R. Worden, Daniel H. Cusworth, Zhen Qu, Yi Yin, Yuzhong Zhang, A. Anthony Bloom, Shuang Ma, Brendan K. Byrne, Tia Scarpelli, Joannes D. Maasakkers, David Crisp, Riley Duren, and Daniel J. Jacob
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 6811–6841, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6811-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6811-2022, 2022
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This paper is intended to accomplish two goals: 1) describe a new algorithm by which remotely sensed measurements of methane or other tracers can be used to not just quantify methane fluxes, but also attribute these fluxes to specific sources and regions and characterize their uncertainties, and 2) use this new algorithm to provide methane emissions by sector and country in support of the global stock take.
Carlos Alberti, Frank Hase, Matthias Frey, Darko Dubravica, Thomas Blumenstock, Angelika Dehn, Paolo Castracane, Gregor Surawicz, Roland Harig, Bianca C. Baier, Caroline Bès, Jianrong Bi, Hartmut Boesch, André Butz, Zhaonan Cai, Jia Chen, Sean M. Crowell, Nicholas M. Deutscher, Dragos Ene, Jonathan E. Franklin, Omaira García, David Griffith, Bruno Grouiez, Michel Grutter, Abdelhamid Hamdouni, Sander Houweling, Neil Humpage, Nicole Jacobs, Sujong Jeong, Lilian Joly, Nicholas B. Jones, Denis Jouglet, Rigel Kivi, Ralph Kleinschek, Morgan Lopez, Diogo J. Medeiros, Isamu Morino, Nasrin Mostafavipak, Astrid Müller, Hirofumi Ohyama, Paul I. Palmer, Mahesh Pathakoti, David F. Pollard, Uwe Raffalski, Michel Ramonet, Robbie Ramsay, Mahesh Kumar Sha, Kei Shiomi, William Simpson, Wolfgang Stremme, Youwen Sun, Hiroshi Tanimoto, Yao Té, Gizaw Mengistu Tsidu, Voltaire A. Velazco, Felix Vogel, Masataka Watanabe, Chong Wei, Debra Wunch, Marcia Yamasoe, Lu Zhang, and Johannes Orphal
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2433–2463, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2433-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2433-2022, 2022
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Space-borne greenhouse gas missions require ground-based validation networks capable of providing fiducial reference measurements. Here, considerable refinements of the calibration procedures for the COllaborative Carbon Column Observing Network (COCCON) are presented. Laboratory and solar side-by-side procedures for the characterization of the spectrometers have been refined and extended. Revised calibration factors for XCO2, XCO and XCH4 are provided, incorporating 47 new spectrometers.
Andreas Schneider, Tobias Borsdorff, Joost aan de Brugh, Alba Lorente, Franziska Aemisegger, David Noone, Dean Henze, Rigel Kivi, and Jochen Landgraf
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2251–2275, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2251-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2251-2022, 2022
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This paper presents an extended H₂O/HDO total column dataset from short-wave infrared measurements by TROPOMI including cloudy and clear-sky scenes. Coverage is tremendously increased compared to previous TROPOMI HDO datasets. The new dataset is validated against recent ground-based FTIR measurements from TCCON and against aircraft measurements over the ocean. The use of the new dataset is demonstrated with a case study of a cold air outbreak in January 2020.
Elena Sánchez-García, Javier Gorroño, Itziar Irakulis-Loitxate, Daniel J. Varon, and Luis Guanter
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1657–1674, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1657-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1657-2022, 2022
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This study seeks to present the as-yet-unknown potential use of WorldView-3 for the mapping of methane point source emissions. The proposed retrieval methodology is based on the idea that the spectral channels not affected by methane can be used to predict the methane-affected band through regression analysis. The results show the precise location of 26 independent point emissions over different methane hotspot regions worldwide, which prove the game-changing potential that this mission entails.
Yousef Albuhaisi, Ype van der Velde, and Sander Houweling
Biogeosciences Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2022-55, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2022-55, 2022
Manuscript not accepted for further review
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An important uncertainty in the modelling of methane emissions from natural wetlands is the wetland area. It is important to get the spatiotemporal covariance between the variables that drive methane emissions right for accurate quantification. Using high-resolution wetland and soil carbon maps, in combination with a simplified methane emission model that is coarsened in six steps from 0.005° to 1°, we find a strong relation between wetland emissions and the model resolution.
Tobias Küchler, Stefan Noël, Heinrich Bovensmann, John Philip Burrows, Thomas Wagner, Christian Borger, Tobias Borsdorff, and Andreas Schneider
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 297–320, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-297-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-297-2022, 2022
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We applied the air-mass-corrected differential optical absorption spectroscopy (AMC-DOAS) method to derive total column water vapour (TCWV) from Sentinel-5P measurements and compared it to independent data sets. The correlation coefficients of typically more than 0.9 and the small deviations up to 2.5 kg m−2 reveal good agreement between our data product and other TCWV data sets. In particular for the different Sentinel-5P water vapour products, the deviations are around 1 kg m−2.
Xiao Lu, Daniel J. Jacob, Haolin Wang, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Yuzhong Zhang, Tia R. Scarpelli, Lu Shen, Zhen Qu, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Hannah Nesser, A. Anthony Bloom, Shuang Ma, John R. Worden, Shaojia Fan, Robert J. Parker, Hartmut Boesch, Ritesh Gautam, Deborah Gordon, Michael D. Moran, Frances Reuland, Claudia A. Octaviano Villasana, and Arlyn Andrews
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 395–418, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-395-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-395-2022, 2022
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We evaluate methane emissions and trends for 2010–2017 in the gridded national emission inventories for the United States, Canada, and Mexico by inversion of in situ and satellite methane observations. We find that anthropogenic methane emissions for all three countries are underestimated in the national inventories, largely driven by oil emissions. Anthropogenic methane emissions in the US peak in 2014, in contrast to the report of a steadily decreasing trend over 2010–2017 from the US EPA.
Qiansi Tu, Frank Hase, Matthias Schneider, Omaira García, Thomas Blumenstock, Tobias Borsdorff, Matthias Frey, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Alba Lorente, Carlos Alberti, Juan J. Bustos, André Butz, Virgilio Carreño, Emilio Cuevas, Roger Curcoll, Christopher J. Diekmann, Darko Dubravica, Benjamin Ertl, Carme Estruch, Sergio Fabián León-Luis, Carlos Marrero, Josep-Anton Morgui, Ramón Ramos, Christian Scharun, Carsten Schneider, Eliezer Sepúlveda, Carlos Toledano, and Carlos Torres
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 295–317, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-295-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-295-2022, 2022
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We use different methane ground- and space-based remote sensing data sets for investigating the emission strength of three waste disposal sites close to Madrid. We present a method that uses wind-assigned anomalies for deriving emission strengths from satellite data and estimate their uncertainty to 9–14 %. The emission strengths estimated from the remote sensing data sets are significantly larger than the values published in the official register.
Sabour Baray, Daniel J. Jacob, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Jian-Xiong Sheng, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Dylan B. A. Jones, A. Anthony Bloom, and Robert McLaren
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18101–18121, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18101-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18101-2021, 2021
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We use 2010–2015 surface and satellite observations to disentangle methane from anthropogenic and natural sources in Canada. Using a chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem), the mismatch between modelled and observed methane concentrations can be used to infer emissions according to Bayesian statistics. Compared to prior knowledge, we show higher anthropogenic emissions attributed to energy and/or agriculture in Western Canada and lower natural emissions from Boreal wetlands.
Tyler Wizenberg, Kimberly Strong, Kaley Walker, Erik Lutsch, Tobias Borsdorff, and Jochen Landgraf
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7707–7728, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7707-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7707-2021, 2021
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CO is an important atmospheric gas that influences both air quality and the climate. Here, we compare CO measurements from TROPOMI with those from ACE-FTS and an Arctic ground-based FTS at Eureka, Nunavut, to further characterize the accuracy of TROPOMI measurements. CO columns from the instruments agree well but show larger differences at high latitudes. Despite this, the results fall within the TROPOMI accuracy target, indicating good data quality at high latitudes.
Luis Guanter, Cédric Bacour, Andreas Schneider, Ilse Aben, Tim A. van Kempen, Fabienne Maignan, Christian Retscher, Philipp Köhler, Christian Frankenberg, Joanna Joiner, and Yongguang Zhang
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 5423–5440, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5423-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5423-2021, 2021
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Sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) is an electromagnetic signal emitted by plants in the red and far-red parts of the spectrum. It has a functional link to photosynthesis and can be measured by satellite instruments, which makes it an important variable for the remote monitoring of the photosynthetic activity of vegetation ecosystems around the world. In this contribution we present a SIF dataset derived from the new Sentinel-5P TROPOMI missions.
Vilma Kangasaho, Aki Tsuruta, Leif Backman, Pyry Mäkinen, Sander Houweling, Arjo Segers, Maarten Krol, Ed Dlugokencky, Sylvia Michel, James White, and Tuula Aalto
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-843, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-843, 2021
Revised manuscript not accepted
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Understanding the composition of carbon isotopes can help to better understand the changes in methane budgets. This study investigates how methane sources affect the seasonal cycle of the methane carbon-13 isotope during 2000–2012 using an atmospheric transport model. We found that emissions from both anthropogenic and natural sources contribute. The findings raise a need to revise the magnitudes, proportion, and seasonal cycles of anthropogenic sources and northern wetland emissions.
Mahesh Kumar Sha, Bavo Langerock, Jean-François L. Blavier, Thomas Blumenstock, Tobias Borsdorff, Matthias Buschmann, Angelika Dehn, Martine De Mazière, Nicholas M. Deutscher, Dietrich G. Feist, Omaira E. García, David W. T. Griffith, Michel Grutter, James W. Hannigan, Frank Hase, Pauli Heikkinen, Christian Hermans, Laura T. Iraci, Pascal Jeseck, Nicholas Jones, Rigel Kivi, Nicolas Kumps, Jochen Landgraf, Alba Lorente, Emmanuel Mahieu, Maria V. Makarova, Johan Mellqvist, Jean-Marc Metzger, Isamu Morino, Tomoo Nagahama, Justus Notholt, Hirofumi Ohyama, Ivan Ortega, Mathias Palm, Christof Petri, David F. Pollard, Markus Rettinger, John Robinson, Sébastien Roche, Coleen M. Roehl, Amelie N. Röhling, Constantina Rousogenous, Matthias Schneider, Kei Shiomi, Dan Smale, Wolfgang Stremme, Kimberly Strong, Ralf Sussmann, Yao Té, Osamu Uchino, Voltaire A. Velazco, Corinne Vigouroux, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Pucai Wang, Thorsten Warneke, Tyler Wizenberg, Debra Wunch, Shoma Yamanouchi, Yang Yang, and Minqiang Zhou
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6249–6304, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6249-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6249-2021, 2021
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This paper presents, for the first time, Sentinel-5 Precursor methane and carbon monoxide validation results covering a period from November 2017 to September 2020. For this study, we used global TCCON and NDACC-IRWG network data covering a wide range of atmospheric and surface conditions across different terrains. We also show the influence of a priori alignment, smoothing uncertainties and the sensitivity of the validation results towards the application of advanced co-location criteria.
Zhen Qu, Daniel J. Jacob, Lu Shen, Xiao Lu, Yuzhong Zhang, Tia R. Scarpelli, Hannah Nesser, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Joannes D. Maasakkers, A. Anthony Bloom, John R. Worden, Robert J. Parker, and Alba L. Delgado
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 14159–14175, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14159-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14159-2021, 2021
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The recent launch of TROPOMI offers an unprecedented opportunity to quantify the methane budget from a top-down perspective. We use TROPOMI and the more mature GOSAT methane observations to estimate methane emissions and get consistent global budgets. However, TROPOMI shows biases over regions where surface albedo is small and provides less information for the coarse-resolution inversion due to the larger error correlations and spatial variations in the number of observations.
Antoine Berchet, Espen Sollum, Rona L. Thompson, Isabelle Pison, Joël Thanwerdas, Grégoire Broquet, Frédéric Chevallier, Tuula Aalto, Adrien Berchet, Peter Bergamaschi, Dominik Brunner, Richard Engelen, Audrey Fortems-Cheiney, Christoph Gerbig, Christine D. Groot Zwaaftink, Jean-Matthieu Haussaire, Stephan Henne, Sander Houweling, Ute Karstens, Werner L. Kutsch, Ingrid T. Luijkx, Guillaume Monteil, Paul I. Palmer, Jacob C. A. van Peet, Wouter Peters, Philippe Peylin, Elise Potier, Christian Rödenbeck, Marielle Saunois, Marko Scholze, Aki Tsuruta, and Yuanhong Zhao
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 5331–5354, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-5331-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-5331-2021, 2021
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We present here the Community Inversion Framework (CIF) to help rationalize development efforts and leverage the strengths of individual inversion systems into a comprehensive framework. The CIF is a programming protocol to allow various inversion bricks to be exchanged among researchers.
The ensemble of bricks makes a flexible, transparent and open-source Python-based tool. We describe the main structure and functionalities and demonstrate it in a simple academic case.
Hannah Nesser, Daniel J. Jacob, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Tia R. Scarpelli, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Yuzhong Zhang, and Chris H. Rycroft
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5521–5534, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5521-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5521-2021, 2021
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Analytical inversions of satellite observations of atmospheric composition can improve emissions estimates and quantify errors but are computationally expensive at high resolutions. We propose two methods to decrease this cost. The methods reproduce a high-resolution inversion at a quarter of the cost. The reduced-dimension method creates a multiscale grid. The reduced-rank method solves the inversion where information content is highest.
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Short summary
Using two machine learning models, which were trained on TROPOMI methane satellite data, we detect 2974 methane plumes, so-called super-emitters, in 2021. We detect methane emissions globally related to urban areas or landfills, coal mining, and oil and gas production. Using our monitoring system, we identify 94 regions with frequent emissions. For 12 locations, we target high-resolution satellite instruments to enlarge and identify the exact infrastructure responsible for the emissions.
Using two machine learning models, which were trained on TROPOMI methane satellite data, we...
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